You know people smile when remembering Jim Carlson

Jim Carlson

Fan mail from some flounder: First, I'll quote here an email from a fellow UMM advocate, someone like me who believes our long-term memory of all things UMM is important. "Good for you, on remembering Jim (Carlson). Talk about a guy with a positive attitude, that was Jim." 

  

Might the years be passing by faster that I realize? Rhetorical question. Big stuff from past epochs in this town's history can start to fade. Jim Carlson's UMM Jazz Festival at its height was boffo. 

Here's another email I received just this morning (Sunday) from my Bonanza Valley friend: "Hello Brian, very sad to read that Doc Carlson passed away. I so enjoyed being in his jazz band for one year. Damn that was a blast." 

  

The best kind of testimonial, right? From someone who had a student perspective. So we remember the days when various communities would send their band kids to Morris. We saw the school buses around town. The event happened right at the cusp of springtime. It's all past tense as I remind of such things. Does it have to be like this? 

The pandemic was bound to bring a pause, regardless of how UMM was choosing to allocate resources. The 2021 Jazz Fest was canceled. Did this cause all the air to go out of the tires, as it were? Did the interruption cause the Fest to fade as a priority among UMM's decision makers? 

Bob Bruininks

I'll tell you someone who would always choose to keep the priority high: Robert "Bob" Bruininks. On the chance that Dr. Bruininks had not gotten word of Jim's death yet, I emailed him last week. Truly he has been a prime leader in the U of M firmament. He is a past U president. I covered his visit here once when he wore a UMM Jazz Fest T-shirt under a sport coat. He went out of his way to praise the Fest. He responded to my email:

 

Hi Brian,

Thank you for sharing this sad news about the unexpected death of Jim Carlson. We often traveled to UMM for the jazz festival. It was one of the highlights in my tenure and Jim was one of my favorite UMM professors, among many others, on this inspiring University of Minnesota Campus. In my last year as President, we attended often with Regent Dallas and Joannie Bohnsack, very enthusiastic jazz patrons. Dallas and Joannie traveled to jazz concerts frequently in the U.S. and abroad. I enthusiastically supported the Jazz Fest and was deeply honored when the Campus and Chancellor Johnson presented me with a framed copy of Take Five, one of my favorites, now hanging proudly in my home office.

 

Close eyes, remember applause

Looks like I served a purpose with my journalism in connection with Jim's tragic death. The sadness of the death is accompanied by robust memories springing back, like how the audience at Edson responded so lustily to the jazz pieces each year, to each and every solo in fact! The enthusiasm was irresistible. 

I continue to use past tense, unfortunate naturally. How can we let such a good thing slip away? Unfortunately, as far as our community of Morris is concerned, a pattern is developing. We have lost several events or traditions that were once important just because of the "people traffic." I remember when MAHS Tiger sports along with other area teams had post-season games at the UMM P.E. Center. What a "crowd" phenomenon that was, like with the Wheaton community showing up en masse from the west, seemingly everyone wearing red, and creating, well, pandemonium. 

These days, Tiger basketball heads south for the post-season. A parent explained to me about the loss of the huge crowd phenomenon: Today there are so many activities, parents (and other boosters) get spread out. 

Hancock girls basketball used to fill the P.E. Center just like the Wheaton girls. To be honest, I'd sometimes feel a little unsettled by the pandemonium nature of it all. Pep bands could be loud. Emotions often struck me as excessive. But these were phenomena where people simply assembled in large numbers.

The trend here has been away from this, thus we have said goodbye to the once-big midsummer fest that enlivened our community, was once a symbol of pride for us: Prairie Pioneer Days. Some profound things must have happened in our culture, society or economy to have something like PPD just die on the vine. 

Oh, and a source tells me the UMM Jazz Fest is done, it is nixed permanently. I'm sure Dr. Bruininks would be disconsolate about that. Might he use his "clout" to perhaps accomplish a reversal with this?

 

Remember Les? 

At this moment I'm thinking of the wisdom of the late Les Lindor. Lindor, who was associated with the institution now known as the WCROC, said it's always tempting for people who run academic institutions to think of "cutting." Let's cut this, or that. Always have an eye on the budget. I know that even when the Jazz Fest was still fairly strong, there were financial issues in connection with it. Well damn it, you can't take it with you. 

Cut some programs with the idea of making others stronger? Not so simple, as Lindor pointed out that all programs have a constituency, a constituency that can be helpful for the institution getting funding. Do not disregard the wisdom of ol' Les. I visit the grave marker of Les and Virginia Lindor every Memorial Day weekend. (Oh, and they were our neighbors.)

Another "people" event that has died here is the Community Thanksgiving Dinner. 

Are we all just "hunkering down" in the year 2022? Just taking care of No. 1? Will the pandemic have a permanent effect of exacerbating? Let me just state my opinion: I hope not. Just as we could not have predicted the retreat from so many big gatherings of humanity, maybe we should not rule out their triumphant comeback. 

A scene that should be kept alive (UMM image)

The Jazz Fest? Its chemistry was once right-on. Look at how the event stimulated the enthusiasm of someone like Dr. Bruininks along with many others. 

I shared some concerns about the current trend with Jim Morrison of the Morrison family. The Jazz Fest was a celebration of the performing facility that bears the Morrison name. Edson Auditorium is within that facility. You might say the Jazz Fest was the pride and joy of the Edson/Morrison venue, right in the middle of campus. Now the Fest is apparently gone with the wind. I hear this on good authority. 

My source also indicated that UMM has become frugal with music discipline resources. Word is, Dusty Retzlaff was almost lined up to take over jazz for the rest of this academic year. Would have been wonderful arrangement, even with Jazz Fest having gone kaput. But there was a problem: a low-ball compensation offer, reportedly. "Dusty" withdrew, so now we're looking at an NDSU grad student doing the job. Who I'm sure is a wonderful person. But it was option No. 2, alas. 

Remember what Les Lindor said: Keep your programs propped up and with as much vitality as you can inject, because this is the real key in the long run to keeping budgets and resources healthy. You have to perform! You cannot "cut" your way to budget health, except maybe in the very short term.

 

Downbeat note

The frugality has not kept UMM from hiring Sue Dieter, a development I truly bemoan. That's just promo and PR, of doubtful value even in that narrow context. Sue was with Forum Communications in its ill-fated stint in Morris, and then with Congressman Collin Peterson in his ill-fated effort to keep his position. Memo to UMM: you cannot "sell" your way to success in academia, you have to perform. Sometimes that takes money. You may get a rude reminder of that down the road. 

 

Yours truly, proud scribe

Again, I am pleased to have been of service rendering my journalism in the cause of reminding of Jim Carlson's legacy. Unfortunately his death was the catalyst for this, but what wonderful memories we can sort through. None of us can escape death. In Jim's case it was unexpected: a cerebral hemorrhage on Christmas Eve. 

Take a look at my journalism and compare it to the dearth of attention on the matter in the Morris commercial media: radio/newspaper. And to think some people thought I was washed-up! Those people will not even be convinced at the present time that I have anything positive to offer. To them I can only say: go sit under a cow. I will say they are great at partying. I am not.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Jim Carlson and legacy of jazz at U of M-Morris

Jim with guest artists Lin Biviano (left) and Bobby Militello (Allen Monroe photo)

Music is such a highly fluid thing, yet we study it as if we can get it all figured out. That's always the aim in academics, right? To get everything figured out? Nice try, but I would suggest these efforts are always going to come up short. Often a new thing develops in music that we could not have anticipated. 

I doubt that the UMM music people of the institution's first decade saw a big wave of "jazz" coming along. The wave most certainly arrived. We had the right individual in the right place at the right time to seize on it. It was Jim "Doc" Carlson who established the UMM Jazz Festival, perhaps the most ballyhooed event in the whole UMM academic year at one time. 

The success sort of spoke for itself: an auditorium filled with wildly approving fans of the music, those orange school buses seen around town for the event's duration - buses from the various communities that sent kids here. The audience members were left with memories that they would never put aside. They'll smile with any mention of UMM jazz today. 

UMM still has jazz. I find the level of artistry pleasing. UMM music has lots to be proud of today. But the true heyday of Jim's program seems past. Sad? Not sure we need to make a judgment. Music is fluid by its very nature, it gets pushed and nudged in various directions. Academic leaders come and go who don't see things in a common way. 

Am I overstating the popularity of the Jazz Fest in Jim's tenure? Well, allow me to share the memory of the U of M president coming here proudly wearing a Jazz Fest T-shirt. That was Robert "Bob" Bruininks. It took some discipline for me to get his last name spelling mastered. It's pronounced "Brunix." So I wondered why he couldn't just spell it that way. Then again, once you have typed his name correctly a few times, it gets fixed in your mind. 

Thinking of Bruininks reminds me of the issue of alleged largesse in how the U spread money around. Well, if the man was capable of acquiring money and using it to reward people who had a true commitment to the U, well then maybe we should say "all the more power to him." 

 

The intangibles

Looking back, Jim Carlson seemed bigger than life at UMM, just with his persona. It was energetic all the way. He could disarm you with his nature. A hearty laugh came easily to him - it was infectious. The personality trait complemented the musical enrichment he instilled. 

The quality of the music was super but allow me to suggest: it wasn't as connected to the pure "jazz" as much as might be suggested! Jazz is improvisation. While challenging and artistic, pure improvisation has limited crowd-pleasing effect. No, I think a lot of the music's appeal here had to do with the structured arrangements. They were powerful and with a most contemporary type of rhythm underpinning. Jazz rhythm reflects an African influence. To be very raw and candid here, this aspect held back the art form's advancement for a long time. Finally a young generation came along that didn't give a rip about such inhibitions. You might think it was the 1950s, when rock 'n' roll burst out of its cultural confinements. The process happened in the 1930s with big bands starting to flourish. 

The trap drum players were quite the ingredient for supplying sounds to the liking of young people. So in the 1980s we got the popular rage of jazz at UMM: bands playing structured arrangements, making them seem not a whole lot different from the "concert" band. And concert band music is boffo. But the jazz groups had the trap drums that drove a particular type of energy. 

I found the jazz bands appealing largely because of their smaller size, compared to concert band or "symphonic winds." I saw two advantages with the smaller size: each musician had a better chance of standing out. Also, because the students were arranged in tiers onstage, we could see all of them so much better than with the concert band. 

Mind you, concert band need not be "stuffy." Oh, it can be. But, look up the "Windstars" ensemble playing "El Cumbanchero" and you'll be enlivened, truly. John Woell once directed "El Cumbanchero" for our Morris High School band. The "Windstars" version is too advanced for high school band, but Woell directed a most appealing version here. 

Woell made his mark too by continuing the marching band tradition at the school. He picked up from Bob Schaefer. Woell did yeoman's work keeping it going until youth culture began to change and interests began diversifying. Until 1972 there was no varsity sports for girls. Egad! Well, that was the world we lived in. It was a fact. So even though a huge wave of the boomer population kids was "in force" by 1972, girls sports was just starting to take some baby steps forward. It took time, patience and dogged advocacy by those who would never accept a "back seat" to the boys. 

Chris Voelz became controversial at the U of M. I confess I sometimes felt a little exasperated by her - Sid Hartman shared that exasperation. But now I look back and realize the dogged advocacy was needed. In the same way, we can look back at the early jazz music, along with the seminal rock 'n' roll, and feel befuddled about how white culture seemed to recoil at it. Strange but true, just like a world with no varsity girls sports. Heck, we didn't have an indoor arena for hockey either. All this with the wave of boomer kids reaching a (thunderous) crescendo. 

 

His soul has departed us

I share all these thoughts at the very sobering time of realizing that James "Doc" Carlson has gone to that big jazz nightclub in the sky. How tragic that he left us so suddenly on Christmas Eve. 

There was horrible reporting of the news of his death. The news has sort of trickled around through chance conversations at the slow time of the holidays. Was University Relations responsible for the negligence here? Maybe someone should be fired. 

At some point there would have to be a standard obituary. The University of Minnesota-Morris is in mourning.

Jim with Jazz Festival guest artists Ed Shaughnessy (left) and Jim Pugh. Photo by Del Sarlette. Sometimes people mispronouned Ed's last name "O'Shaughnessy." He played drums with the Tonight Show band, remember? Mr. Pugh was trombonist. I remember him playing with Woody Herman's band at the old St. Paul Prom Ballroom. What a place! Lots of boxing matches there. It was like an extra-large version of the old Lakeside Ballroom, Glenwood. Pat Boone sang there.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Rather an odyssey to confirm Jim Carlson's death

Jim makes gesture of approval at Jazz Fest (Del Sarlette photo)

A stressful last few days for yours truly. It began in the middle of the night when I called up an email from a friend, relaying the sad news of Jim Carlson's death. Immediately I knew I should write something. I would write something whether the world was interested in consuming it or not. Certain people would tell me the latter applies. To them, I would use the language of Donald Trump and say "fuck you." 

I appreciated getting the news, but was a wee bit hesitant also. My friend cited his son-in-law as source. I'm sure my friend and son-in-law felt they were passing on credible information. Frankly it was the equivalent of rumor. While I wished to assume the validity, for the purposes of my writing I wanted a little more certainty. 

I tentatively wrote a blog post. Within a short time I had confirmation of the news, sort of. It was confirmation in the sense that it was the second time I heard the report from an unofficial source. My second source said he had heard from a "jazz alum." I don't doubt that all these individuals were well-intentioned. 

Well, I boldly went ahead and clicked on "publish." Nice thing about online writing, i.e. blogging is that you can delete or correct stuff. So I published, and then I assumed that within three or four hours I could get more definite confirmation of the news. So I was looking to the traditional or legacy news media primarily - this institution exists for the very purpose of sharing important news, right? Jim Carlson was not some ordinary citizen when he was here, he was a public future, the mastermind behind the UMM Jazz Festival. 

The Jazz Fest was an institution here for many years, just like Prairie Pioneer Days. I could ask the stupid question "why can't we have these things just like we used to have them?" But I get accused of asking too many stupid questions, and to this list I could add, again using the language of Trump, "why the fuck is an 'award' given for the softball complex, when in fact it looks like a disaster so far, for multiple reasons?" We see smiling people in a photo in connection with news of the award. These people know how they can get attention through the established commercial news media. They are selling themselves - I was around this sort of thing through my whole newspaper career. 

But Jim Carlson's death? Can we really be so cavalier to just ignore that? 

Within two or three days I was being scolded by someone who accused me of being clueless, because the news was "on Facebook." Really? So, are we supposed to look to Facebook instead of the news media we grew up with? The newspaper or radio station? Or, to be more contemporary, how about UMM's website? Couldn't a bulletin have been placed in some conspicuous way there? I am not aware of UMM blasting out an email on this in a timely way. 

Jim with his "ax" (Del Sarlette photo)

When my father Ralph died, the chancellor happened to be away from campus, so I looked up the phone number for campus security - easy to find - called it, and of course a real human being was going to answer, at perhaps any time. And, I knew campus security would promptly relay the news to Jacqueline Johnson. So I had it taken care of in an efficient and effective way. Not that anyone would want to give me credit for that. Quite to the contrary. 

So, I was supposed to "go to Facebook," people were implying, but what particular Facebook page would I have to find? 

 

An exclusive community?

I felt insulted by the suggestion that people close to UMM jazz, or the jazz people under Jim that is, were in this fraternity where they'd all gather the news pretty quickly, and if I wasn't a member of that fraternity, it was my problem. Fuck all of you, to again use the language of Donald Trump. 

I am a benefactor for UMM music but apparently still an outsider. I can get along as an outsider, but I resent having to jump through hoops to get real confirmation of Jim Carlson's death. He was a friend of mine, whether you can believe that or not. Probably the latter. I even played some "gigs" with him at one time. 

The Morris Sun Tribune had an editor once who essentially published a rumor. Jim Morrison told her she had better confirm it first, based on my memory. She did not, and reportedly grew frustrated encountering an answering machine repeatedly. This was before we assumed that answering devices were going to become ubiquitous. 

The article got on the front page. How about that? We subsequently had to publish a "correction and apology" on the front page. An affected party had to write a letter to the editor. He was receiving sympathy cards in error. 

Imagine if my "news" about Jim Carlson had gone along a similar course - my "tip" could have come from someone who simply misunderstood something. As an old newspaper person, let me assure you that things like this happen. 

Why couldn't the corporate media get going with better reporting on Jim's death? Are they all just stepping aside for "Facebook?" Is our media universe evolving that quickly? Are we wasting money on the old commercial media? 

A friend told me that because Jim died on Christmas Eve, it was harder for the usual wheels of communication to turn. Really? Funeral homes rake in tons of money from vulnerable families, and they ought to have the means, even on Christmas Day, to keep the wheels turning. They've heard of the Internet I'm sure. 

I checked with all kinds of keywords to try to find a more official confirmation of Jim's death. Within hours I discovered my own blog post, on my "I Love Morris" site, turning up in search. It was the only link I could find that even reported Jim's death. I shared this with a UMM-oriented friend, who in typical UMM smart-ass fashion questioned the size of my brainpan because I was not astute enough to consult with "Facebook." 

I happen not to like Facebook a whole lot. I assure you, there are many long-time residents of the Morris area who do not skip around to Facebook pages all the time, who remember Jim and loved him and would appreciate getting some reliable news about his death. A full obituary with his life story would be much appreciated. Granted, we would have to allow several days before that appeared, so as to give family time to compile information. Maybe we will still get that, even if it is up to UMM jazz alumni to do it. 

I'm not sure what kind of family Jim leaves behind. Based on my experience of the last few days, I think family could have done more. I worked on a draft obituary for my father within a day after he died, and as for my mother, she had written her own obit quite long before she died, and then I just had to update it in some ways. We were prepared, painful as it is to have to be prepared for these things. 

Prior to my father's death, death was simply a taboo subject in my family, verboten. Too unpleasant. After his death I got more real, accepting that death is inevitable for us all, and we are better off accepting this, talking about it and being prepared. 

My critics would shake their heads reading through all of this, although they would first say "no one cares about your fucking writing," again to use the language of Donald Trump. I do not appreciate being insulted when all I did was try to confirm the death of someone who I considered very special. 

It is 3 a.m. as I conclude the first draft of this post, and we're learning of Harry Reid's death, an event that I'm sure will be celebrated by the MAGA crowd. "Let's go Brandon." Senator Reid was a Democrat or "communist." You Republicans are a bunch of lemmings. You don't care about what the central bank, the Federal Reserve, is doing to this country, as it plants the seeds for the possible collapse of this country, but you feel it's important to cheer how Trump wanted to kick transgender people out of the military. And you all think I'm stupid?

Jim Carlson with Jazz Fest guest artists Bill Watrous (left) and Tony Campise (Del Sarlette photo)

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

MACA hoops teams active heading into Christmas

Girls: Eden Valley-Watkins 64, Tigers 54

The GBB Tigers have slid below .500. Their 0-2 showing in the EV-W Holiday Tournament left them with 3-6 won-lost numbers as we're all slowing down for Christmas. The third place game of the EV-W affair was played on Tuesday, Dec. 21. It had a 64-54 score with MACA having the lower number vs. the host team. 

The Tigers with coach Dale Henrich will be resolved coming out of the holidays to get the numbers turned around. 

EV-W built up momentum as the game neared conclusion. The Tigers faltered despite having the asset of balanced scoring. Indeed, four in our ranks posted double figures scoring. The charge was led by Sydney Dietz whose point total was 17. Plus she contributed eight rebounds and five assists. 

Meredith Carrington dished out four assists and scored 13 points. Then we see Shannon Dougherty and Cate Kehoe each with 12 points. Kehoe collected seven rebounds. So there were definitely strong suits. 

I get briefed on the team regularly by player grandparent Tom Carrington at DeToy's, early-morning, when our minds are quite sharp, right? We should be so lucky. It's a fan's prerogative to have opinions of course. The EV-W Eagles came out of the game at 3-4. 

No reason I couldn't write a little about MACA gymnastics, but I'm not familiar enough with the language/terminology of the sport. For example, when I see that an athlete "stuck her routine," I do not know what that means!

 

Mayer Lutheran 75, MACA 50

Our opening game of the EV-W event had us take the court against those Lutherans of Mayer Lutheran. The Lutherans worked to an advantage with a winning outcome for them, 75-50. Turnovers killed us at the Eden Valley gym. The stat here was 22, sigh. We were buried by halftime when the score showed us down by 24. 

Mayer has the "Vikings" nickname. Their stock is high in MN Class 'A', a ranking of No. 4. Those Lutherans came out of the December 20 game with an 8-0 record. 

There were bright spots in our performance. Like, Sydney Dietz putting in 17 points and grabbing five rebounds. Meredith Carrington gave her grandpa some reason to smile with 13 points/five assists. Cate Kehoe came through with ten for the orange and black, so grandpa Neal Hofland could smile some too. Alas, the game's final score could not have prompted any smiling!

Boys: Tigers 87, BOLD 60

Remember the old bumper sticker "where the hell is Bird Island?" My, we're going back to the '70s. "Hell" was considered rather strong language at the time. Our neighbor of Cyrus came up with a variant: "Where the heck is Cyrus?" Bumper stickers could be a big deal then. Here's a question for analysis: Is "hell" even a profane word? Input welcomed. 

The MACA boys basketball fans had to know where Bird Island was on Tuesday. Our Tigers took to the court to face the Warriors of BOLD. The West Central Tribune reported that BOLD's "scrappy lineup" was able to keep up with the Tigers in the first half. Not sure about that, really, as we led 43-34 at halftime. 

I imagine the WC Tribune cares more about BOLD than MACA. Isn't it true we no longer have athletes eligible for the All Area Teams, or for the Ranweiler Award? 

The Warriors certainly could not keep up with MACA in the game's second half. We truly soared, or roared, as we outscored the Warriors 44-26. So we won this game 87-60. We're 7-0, BOLD is 3-2. 

I remember writing about Jackson's father Kevin

We learn from the WC Tribune's coverage that Jackson Loge is committed to Augustana for his college play. Is this better than trying to make it at a Division I school? Maybe it is. I remember when UMM coach Perry Ford had a stint with Augustana after leaving here. 

Augustana sure had to be pleased with what they learned about Loge's play on Tuesday. Loge produced 32 points and nine rebounds. Plus he swatted aside four shots against the out-sized BOLD team. 

Cole Visser of BOLD kept his team's hopes flickering for a time. This he did with hitting 3-pointers. BOLD had a subsequent seven-point run but could not challenge the Tigers in a sustained way. The night belonged to coach Mark Torgerson's Tigers. We are ranked fourth in MN Class AA. A merry Christmas indeed. Ahem, let's call that "holidays." 

Opposing teams are sure keeping an eye on Loge. The Tigers can respond with some other options in their arsenal. So Thomas Tiernan seized the opportunity and scored 17 first half points of his game-total 19. Loge and Tiernan were joined on the scoring list by: Cole Wente 9, Durgin Decker 7, Tyler Berlinger 6, Sam Kleinwolterink 6, Brandon Jergenson 5, Trey Hunt 2 and Toby Gonnerman 1. 

Tiernan showed his well-known flair with long-rangers: five 3-pointers. Loge connected twice from beyond the 3-point line. Decker, Wente and Jergenson each connected once. Jergenson and Tiernan had nine and six assists respectively. Wente and Tiernan each stole the ball three times. 

The top BOLD scorer was Max Marks with 14 points. Visser made four 3-pointers, Hunter Borer three. Ryan King and Visser each had five rebounds. Ethan Sullivan had four assists and Visser had three steals.

Newspaper erratum

Looks like our Morris newspaper had an excruciatingly bad misspelled word in a sports headline last week. I do not have the paper in front of me as I write this. I only see it at the library or at church. The headline in question was the top one on the front sports page, ugh. "Reign" for "rein?" Holy cow, shouldn't we be setting a better example for our community's young people? We preach about the importance of education, and then we see this? 

What if I had committed this error in my Sun Tribune career? People would have choice words, to be sure, but there's no way I would make this particular mistake. Yet I was written off by so many of our community's stuffed shirts, beginning in the late 1980s when some strong party line stuff took over in this community. I wouldn't want the ghost of Christmas past to take me there again. Our school district became a true flashpoint, turning neighbor against neighbor in some cases. 

It should not have happened. Some issues simply had to be addressed. We got on a much better course as time went on. As I reflect on the "party line" folks, who socialized with each other a lot, I wonder: why so defensive, so prickly, so humorless? If you all were so right, could you not have been more relaxed?

Salute the band!

Our music programs do not get the regular media attention of sports, of course. But surely the MAHS music programs are boffo, as we saw on December 13 when band was at centerstage. It isn't always called band, sometimes it's "symphonic winds." Ah, Spinal Tap with its "Break Like the Wind" tour! 

Jazz I started out the Dec. 13 concert at our opulent concert hall. We could hardly have dreamt of such a place when I was in high school. In my high school days, concerts would be at the old elementary gym (now razed) or the 1968 gym at the high school. Actually I think the high school gym worked out great. The sight lines for the audience were better than at the high school auditorium which came later. I must confess: I have never really enjoyed the high school auditorium as it gets claustrophobic and stuffy in there. 

The concert hall of today is truly boffo - ironic that our public school has this and not UMM. But we'll take it. 

Jazz I gave us a reprise of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" with its jazzy feel. We could hear this every year, never get tired of it. Concert highlights for me - there were many -  included the piano playing of Henry Berberi and the singing, yes singing, of Emily Hamm. The microphone became a dud for Hamm's performance - it did not matter! Her song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" went over wonderfully. What impressive vocal range by Ms. Hamm. 

The "Nutcracker Suite" was a classy and sophisticated concert highlight. 

Kudos to the directors: Wanda Dagen and Andrea Denardo. Someday I think a statue of Dagen should be displayed on the school grounds.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Tiernan tops scoring, Loge reaches milestone

Boys hoops: Tigers 72, WCA 44

West Central Area made waves in football with its appearance in Prep Bowl. Congrats on that, but on Friday the Knights were outclassed by the host MACA Tigers on the hardcourt. The orange and black boys really owned the day as they turned back the Knights 72-44. It was a doubleheader day that also showcased the girls teams of MACA and WCA. 

I enjoyed writing about the Knights as they climbed in football. I always enjoy writing about prep sports. The year 2022 will mark the 50th anniversary of my start writing about the Tigers in the media. How about that? Can anyone else come close to matching that longevity? It all started when I wrote about Tiger football led by Willard Wevley and Dan Long. I answered to Arnold Thompson at the Sun Tribune. I could not have envisioned the world wide web then. 

Here I sit today harnessing the web, so I can report that MACA really took control by building a 29-point halftime lead. Our sharp execution was also to the tune of inducing 24 turnovers. If this is to be Mark Torgerson's final season at the coaching helm, he is going out with a flourish. The talent on the roster says a lot about that. 

Jackson Loge scored his 2000th career point Friday. Not long ago he ascended to the No. 1 perch on the MACA career scoring list. He scored 17 points but he was second-best on this night to sharpshooter Thomas Tiernan. Tiernan had a point total of 19. 

WCA may have had a humbling day Friday, but surely they excel on many nights: record now of 4-1. Nice to have a "neighbor" doing so well. Barrett is a nice little burg. WCA's top scorers were Ryder Staples and Nas Dotts each with ten points, and Cole Anderson with nine. 

The Tigers are sitting pretty with a 6-0 record. Will the holidays provide much of a break? C'mon, slow down a little. 

Tiernan made 7 of 13 field goal tries. Loge was 6 of 12. Cole Wente was the third Tiger in double figures, ten points on 4 of 6 shooting. Also scoring: Tyler Berlinger 8, Durgin Decker 7, Brandon Jergenson 5, Sam Kleinwolterink 5 and Kyle Fehr 1. Our team field goal shooting was 26 of 49, 53 percent. 

Tiernan nailed five of nine 3-point shots. These Tigers each made one long-ranger: Decker, Wente, Jergenson and Kleinwolterink. Our team numbers in 3's: nine of 16. 

Loge put up seven freethrow shots and made five. Berlinger was a perfect four of four. Wente and Fehr each made one freethrow. The team numbers were 11 of 18, 61 percent. 

Rebounds: we had 28 total, six offensive. Loge snared ten so he dominated in this department. Wente was the top assist producer with five. In steals we see Jergenson and Tiernan each with four. Loge and Kleinwolterink each blocked a shot. We turned the ball over 15 times. We're riding high with the No 4 state ranking.

 

Girls: West Central Area 65, Tigers 40

The script got flipped for Friday's girls game, as fans saw the Knights establish a clear advantage. Lexi Bright had a lot to do with that as she scored 29 points. The Tigers had the kind of turnover problem that the Knights had in the boys game. Our girls squad committed 23. Compounding that stat was our lackluster 27 percent in shooting. 

Orange and black fans were kept quiet much of the time as we fell behind 34-20 by halftime. Then we got buried with an 18-4 run by the Knights to open the second half. Ouch. 

Bright collected nine rebounds. Claire Stark contributed ten points for the victor. Macy Grosz came off the bench to score five. Addison Staples pulled down seven boards. 

We're on the threshold of the holidays with our W/L at 3-4. WCA sits at 3-2. 

Our Maddy Grove put in 14 points, plus she got eleven boards. Cate Kehoe supplied ten points. Kaylee Harstad was in position for ten rebounds. 

Santa is on his way, remember!

 

Some reflections

I don't mean to seem dramatic reflecting on the 50-year timespan that spans my writing. It was not continuous, I mean there were two interruptions, the first one planned, the second not so much. First I attended college. I felt I had to get away from Morris. That wasn't necessary, or maybe it was, considering I might not have been able to cut it at our UMM. 

I should not have cared because now, I really wish I hadn't attended college at all. Maybe it just seemed like a necessary rite of passage. My generation was like that. It is a shame we tended to look down on young people who did not seek a post-high school degree. Many in my generation chose "tech school." It seemed fine and logical, because what could be better than to prepare for "work," to do something hands-on? 

Well, the passing years have instilled some wisdom, and I now think that "learning on the job" is to be recommended. Just have reading, writing and arithmetic down pat, and you are ready for so much, almost anything. I'm told that the trucking course in "tech school" just involves "learning how to fill out forms." I'm sure that responsibility could be learned and polished just fine if you just "get behind the wheel," eh? But now we hear of "self-driving trucks." If that takes over, what will happen with all the country music songs that romanticize trucking? 

I spent time at St. Cloud for college, driving often between there and Morris in my 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado. Eventually I returned to the Morris newspaper where my experience was often bumpy, often due to circumstances out of my control. I wish I had never filled out "timesheets." I wince. Would have been better just to resume working piecemeal. But that's water under the bridge. 

My second hiatus from being a scribe for MAHS was when I left the newspaper. Now, that was certainly an unpleasant thing when it happened - the paper had been taken over by bean counters from Fargo. Any joy that was there evaporated. At the end I felt I was answering to the Cyclops character from Homer's "the Odyssey." Life is too short for that. I literally pleaded with Sue Dieter one day, wondering why we couldn't just "enjoy life." I was truly a silly fool for asking such a question. 

I asked Jim Morrison one day: "Did the Forum buy the Morris newspaper just for some tax purpose?" He was unsure but it sounded plausible. Fargo ownership sure didn't work out. I was so utterly burned out, I didn't do any writing at all for over three years. That speaks volumes. 

Finally Del Sarlette convinced me it would be easy to start a blog with Google's "Blogger" system, and he was right. Easy and free. The whole digital world eases your tasks for you, rather the opposite of analog. So I have remained most active on behalf of MACA Tiger sports. 

No longer do I have an obligation to answer to the non-Morris sports constituencies. 

I did always enjoy Chokio-Alberta. I enjoyed covering Hancock for the Hancock paper. Covering all the area teams for the Morris paper was unwieldy and often impractical. 

The Morris school district fell into a deep funk in the 1980s with problems that festered. The morass reached a crescendo in about 1988. What a rough ride that was. Teachers promoting boycotts of businesses? I'll bet that would never be countenanced today, not for one second. 

In spite of the many shoals I encountered, I produced voluminous stuff on Tiger athletics. I really wish I could have continued longer. But the bartender finally issued "last call." Which reminds me, I'll miss getting my complimentary Tom and Jerry at the Met Lounge on Christmas Eve Day. I always thought the tradition was for the working people of ol' Motown, and I am no longer in that category. 

But life goes on. "Add dreams of glory," as author/ballplayer Jim Bouton would add to his thoughts, putting things in perspective. I have joked that "Add Dreams of Glory" would be the title of my biography.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

MACA boys win battle of powerhouses

The Tigers traveled to Gotham, i.e. the Twin Cities, for significant weekend hoops action. It wasn't in the inner city, which might be termed Gotham, but it was in the suburbs. So the site was Hopkins. I remember when we had a girls basketball coach here who was from Hopkins. Her name comes back to me: "Ellen Hanson." She wasn't here long - one year? - but was successful, as I recall. 

So it was in Hopkins where our boys basketball team played another highly-touted team, Blake. Both teams are among the top five ranked. The Tigers performed superbly and put away Blake by a margin of ten points, 84-74. The game was part of the Tip-off Classic. 

We held down the Bears of Blake after halftime quite well. We took care of the ball: just five turnovers in the game. We're 5-0 now and ranked fourth in AA, a super place to be going into the heart of holidaytime. Blake's loss was its first. 

Blake held a one-point lead at halftime. After that, our precise ball control helped make the difference. Jackson Loge just keeps rolling on, amassing stats and stoking success. The story for Jackson Saturday included 25 points on 8 of 16 shooting. Four of his mates scored in double figures too: Thomas Tiernan (19), Durgin Decker (12), Cole Wente (10) and Brandon Jergenson (10). Tyler Berlinger put in six points and Sam Kleinwolterink two. 

Our team shooting numbers were 28-for-56, right on the nose 50 percent. I can do that arithmetic myself! We put up 3-pointers pretty often. Nine of these shots succeeded in 23 attempts, 39 percent. Tiernan was three of six, Decker two of two and Jergenson two of four. Berlinger and Wente each made one long-ranger. 

Loge went to the freethrow line for eleven shots and made nine. Our team numbers were 19 of 25, 76 percent. The rebounding story: here we see Loge with 13 total rebounds, five offensive. Decker was second-best with six rebounds, two offensive. The team numbers were 32 total, ten offensive. We had 18 assists of which Loge led with six. Tiernan had two steals. I don't see any blocked shots in the stat report.

 

"Cracking an egg"

I am thankful sitting here working on a blog post instead of consuming the news about the Jan. 6 committee. But it is so discouraging to observe how plodding this committee's work has been. It has plodded in the face of dogged maneuvers by those who have something to hide. 

Our legal system is designed so that you can "crack an egg" in these situations. A smaller fish finally decides he has to tell on a bigger fish. The smaller fish does that of course to save his own behind. Self-interest rules, or ought to. Trump appointed lots of judges who probably will not grease the skids for the 1/6 committee. Our systems need to come through anyway. 

Liz Cheney is a key person leading the charge. Another Republican at the fore, this Kinzinger fellow. These two have been incredibly brave. One day of news about all this stuff just leads into the next. And the next. The Russia investigation was like this too. Trump has always been able to pull enough strings to gum up the works. A lot of this is through simple "delay." Our legal system needs some patching up, undoubtedly. 

What many of us are waiting for rather desperately now, is for the "dam to break." Remember the movie "Force 10 From Navarone?" The good guys knew that once the first small cracks appeared, after a blast, complete breakdown was coming. So as I sit here now on this mid-December day, I ponder: can sensible and wise people everywhere feel confident that those first few cracks have appeared within the Trump defenses? Are people willing to go to prison to support Donald Trump? Herman Cain was willing to die for Trump the grifter, the charlatan, the flim-flam man. 

Chris Christie says he definitely got covid because of Mark Meadows failing to advise him that Trump had tested positive. Ol' Fatso had a difficult hospitalization. And after all that, couldn't Christie just turn on that whole mob, to call them out for what they were? Instead he became measured. Or as they say, "nuanced." 

John Dean caused the dam to break with Watergate. The reason is simple: he saw that the Nixon people were planning on making him a scapegoat. See? Cracking an egg. 

Right now, don't you want the whole Jan. 6 thing to just be over, a year after it happened, and for the public to have virtually all the facts? Will Meadows finally have to turn on Trump? How would an arrest of Trump be executed? I'll bet lots of extra security would be required, maybe even a military presence. What a spectacle. 

If Republicans hadn't thrown up so many roadblocks, we might be at resolution now. We could work on more pressing priorities like our defense vs. covid. Inflation? Worried about that? There is one solution. Don't you understand? The Federal Reserve will have to jack up interest rates. Worried about your stock investments? I guarantee you, you'd be more worried about going to the grocery store and seeing a loaf of bread costing $30.

We should all be embarrassed that we elected Michelle Fischbach as our congressperson. She isn't even articulate or attractive.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

I-94 trip has MACA girls winning by 20

Tigers 61, Melrose 41

The MACA girls began West Central Conference play on a winning note Friday. The Tigers breezed down I-94 to play the Dutchmen of Melrose. We were coming off a Thursday game that had a great first half and a rather disastrous second. That was against Willmar. On Friday the Tigers put it all together for both halves of play. 

We outscored the Dutchmen 28-22 in the first half and 33-19 in the second. So the final score was 61-41 to inaugurate the conference slate. The Tigers breezed back on I-94 feeling most satisfied. 

I do not have individual stats available for the Tigers, sorry. The Melrose scoring was dominated by Brooke Meyer who put in 18 points. Paige Gruber scored eight and Madison Stusse seven. Four Melrose players each scored two points: Brooke Finken, Vanessa Leukam, Ria Nelson and Courtney Revering. Meyer succeeded three times from three-point range, Stusse once. 

Meyer had the team-best eight rebounds and four assists, and she was one of three Dutchmen with a blocked shot. Then we see Gruber with two steals to lead. 

Melrose is having a rough road, no wins to date. 

I have learned to be a little suspicious of won-lost numbers on the Willmar newspaper website. They have us at 2-2 coming out of Friday, but a check of a more reliable source - "Minnesota Scores" - has us at 3-2. The 3-2 numbers sound better. Is there any hope for getting the Willmar newspaper to refer to our athletic programs properly, as "Morris Area Chokio Alberta." That's the name, whether the Willmar scribes like it or not. There is such a thing as accuracy. 

Regarding game stats, I have coach Dale Henrich's email address which means he has mine. That reminds me: I should probably send him a link to my annual original Christmas song from YouTube. My song this year is "Star on the Barn." I will be writing a specific blog post about this soon. 

The "midmnsports" YouTube site has video to watch from Friday. Here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lfXPnxVnM4&t=37s 

 

Boys hockey: Storm 3, Willmar 2

Thursday was hockey night in Benson. So the Storm of MBA skated onto the ice to take on Willmar. Suspense was high as game's end neared. The teams had a 1-1 stalemate in each of the first two periods. The dramatic game-winner for the Storm came with 2:54 left. The hero was Brady DeHaan who got the puck in the net. Brett Hanson assisted. So the game goes into the books as a 3-2 triumph. 

Willmar's loss continued a skid for them. The Cardinals opened the season with a win, then were turned back four times. "Minnesota Scores" has the MBA won-lost mark at 2-2. 

Willmar scored the game's first goal: Ethan Stark scored unassisted at 9:11 of the first period. Hanson of the Storm answered with an unassisted short-handed goal at 12:08. MBA went up 2-1 in the second period as Cole Blume struck with an assist from Tim Blume at 5:18. Willmar answered to create a 2-2 deadlock going into the final period. It was Samuel Beutow scoring Willmar's second period goal, assisted by Stark at 10:17. 

The stage was set for the DeHaan goal at 14:06 of the third. DeHaan worked his game-winning magic with Hanson's assist. Quite the air of triumph among the MBA players, parents and fans at the Benson Civic Center. Our goaltender was Christopher Danielson: 24 saves, 26 shots. The Willmar net was guarded by Mason Thole: 36 saves, 39 shots.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com